A storybook ending was not to be had for the Yorkton Gardon Crushers on Monday night, as Yorkton Minor Hockey鈥檚 lone female hockey team saw their season come to a halt after a 4-3 double overtime loss to the Moose Jaw Mavericks in Game Three of their SSFHL Bantam 鈥楢鈥� Division Championship series.
鈥淲e played a good game, but we just ran out of steam at the end,鈥� said Crusher head coach Fred Schrader following the double overtime defeat. 鈥淏ut we took a 23-1 team to the limit in the series and that鈥檚 something to be proud of.鈥�
Moose Jaw opened the scoring in the first period to take a 1-0 lead, but Mia Chretian鈥檚 first goal of the playoffs brought the Crushers even heading into the first intermission.
A Rachel Pankratz goal 鈥� her third of the series 鈥� gave Yorkton a 2-1 lead in the second frame, however a Maverick marker later in the period ensured the two teams would enter the second intermission deadlocked at two.
The Crushers took their second lead of the game in the third period when defenceman Sara Auchstaetter scored her second postseason goal to give Yorkton a 3-2 lead; a lead that would stand until the latter stages of the final regulation period when Moose Jaw once again tied the game, as Crystal Wale put the puck past Haley Schrader to make it 3-3.
The 3-3 score would remain throughout the final few minutes of regulation time, setting up sudden death overtime.
A scoreless first overtime period saw the host Mavericks put immense pressure on the Crushers, but Schrader managed to keep her team in it by making several big saves.
Unfortunately Schrader couldn鈥檛 stop them all, as just one minute into the second overtime period the Mavericks struck, as a point shot fluttered through traffic and went through Schrader鈥檚 legs for the game winning goal. 鈥淚n the first overtime they had us hemmed in for pretty much the majority of it,鈥� mentioned coach Schrader, continuing, 鈥淲e were a little nervous and chasing the puck around, our goaltender made a few nice saves and then we had a flood, came out and on the first shift, maybe a minute in they had a shot from the point that just happened to go five hole and end the game.
鈥淚t was a hard fought battle and it was nothing to be ashamed of for our girls because they played great, it just wasn鈥檛 our night, but everyone understood the importance of the game, it was a great team effort and I鈥檓 super proud of this whole group of girls here.鈥�
The loss puts an end to the Crushers鈥� historic inaugural season in which they finished second overall with a 16-5-3 record in the regular season in the nine-team SSFHL Bantam 鈥楢鈥� Division.
They also graduate five players to midget hockey, as Lexi Fenske, Sierra Meroniuk, Kaitlyn Sauser, Taylor Halarewich and Rachel Pankratz will all move on.
